


Immortal

by vix_spes



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-04
Updated: 2011-08-04
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:44:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5199518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sir Leon ponders the fact that he has managed to survive, relatively unscathed, the events of the last few years in Camelot as opposed to his fellow knights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immortal

**Author's Note:**

> Set just after season 3 and before season 4. I have fiddled slightly with Sir Leon’s background (please don’t kill me) ... we know nothing about him, not really, other than the fact that he’s a complete BAMF. In my little headcanon, Leon is a son of King Leodegrance who was a distant ally of Uther’s and King of Cameliard (in one version of the legend he’s also the father of Guinevere but not all of them). This is prompted by the fact that in the tournament episode of S2, Leon wears a surcoat that displays a heraldic device that we haven’t seen before (that we never get an explanation for) and in ‘The Coming of Arthur Part 1’ there are several heraldic shields on the walls of his chambers.

Leon had found himself in a bit of a strange place following the events of the last couple of years. He was one the only knights of Camelot remaining from when he had joined the fabled company at his own father’s behest. He was the youngest son of the King of Cameliard so there was very little opportunity for him in his father’s lands; he would always be outshone by his older brother. His father was a long-time ally of Uther Pendragon and had sent a younger Leon to train under and later serve with the Knights of Camelot. He had trained hard, applied himself and had, through his abilities and hard work (not just in battle and on the training field but in the council chamber as well), raised himself to the position of second-in-command of Camelot’s army. Not that much of an army remained. Regardless of his faith in his abilities, he was somewhat incredulous at his luck.  
  
With the exception of Merlin and Prince Arthur, he had been the only knight to survive when they had gone to face the Great Dragon. They still didn’t know where the Dragon had come from, why it had started attacking Camelot but Leon knew one thing for certain. Those nights when Camelot had been under siege from the dragon; up until that point they had been the most terrifying of Leon’s entire life. When Arthur and Merlin had ridden out in an attempt to find the last Dragonlord, the only person who could possibly help Camelot and its citizens, it had been Leon who had stepped up to take Arthur’s place and co-ordinate the defence of the city. As a warrior, you never forgot the sounds of battle – the cries of the men around you, the screams of the wounded and the dying, the clash of metal on metal – even though you became acclimatised to them over time however nothing that he had ever seen or experienced had prepared him for that night. The smell alone had stayed with him for weeks. Despite the terror, despite the number of knights who had been killed in defence of their city, he had been the first to volunteer to go with Arthur and face the dragon. He still didn’t know how he survived that encounter. By all rights he should have died. The rest of the knights who had volunteered had all perished yet somehow he had overcome his injuries.  
  
Later, a year after the Lady Morgana’s disappearance (and subsequent reappearance), along with the rest of the knights of Camelot, their Prince and, even at one point, their King, he had protected Camelot when the city had been laid to siege by Cenred’s army. The odds of success had been stacked against the warriors of Camelot and there had been so many times that he had thought they were going to fail in their attempt. They were struggling to keep the invading army held back, they had already retreated to the courtyard and then, just when they thought that things couldn’t get any worse, a second enemy had come from within Camelot itself. He didn’t know where they had come from, who had summoned them (although it was obviously somebody with magic and that was concerning in and of itself – a magic user in Camelot despite Uther’s decrees on magic) but they were skeletons. The armed skeletons of warriors long dead. Leon had found himself fighting back to back with his fellow knights; they were trying to fight back Cenred’s men and Leon trying to defend himself against an armed skeleton that just wouldn’t be killed. Just when he was in danger of losing his sword (and probably his life) against two of the resurrected skeletons, they collapsed in a heap of bones and shortly afterwards, the citizens of Camelot were celebrating victory despite the fact that they had come close to defeat and invasion. Leon had cheated death once more.  
  
He had been the only remaining survivor of the Camelot patrol that had been decimated by Cenred’s army and even that had been down to the druid’s timely intervention. He had seriously thought that he was going to die, with the injuries that he had taken he should have died yet he had been saved. Leon had never thought that he would see Camelot again yet when he had returned, he had been forced to explain events that he didn’t understand, that he couldn’t comprehend and could barely remember to King Uther. Despite the derision that the King had heaped upon magic users, Leon was eternally grateful towards the druids and the fact that they had saved him, regardless of the fact that he was a Knight of Camelot, that he served the King who had killed so many of their religion, was going to taint any future dealings that he had with the druids.  
  
He had been the only member of Camelot’s advance guard who had survived against the immortal army and he still wasn’t completely sure how that had happened. All he knew was that he had fought when he was able, watching as the rest of his men were cut down around him by men that just couldn’t be killed, regardless of how many mortal blows they took, and then he had run for his life. He had then faced the immortal army, now loyal to the Lady Morgana, for the second time in the dungeons of Camelot and survived once more. That all of them, Prince Arthur, Gwaine, Percival and Elyan, had survived that time was only due to their tenacity, their combat skills and whatever Lancelot and Merlin had done to the Cup of Life.  
  
He had cheated death five times now and he was starting to wonder if, or more likely when, his luck was going to run out. Everything felt as though it were not quite right, it all felt a bit strange. With the Lady Morgana and her sister gone, having fled Camelot (although they weren’t sure if either sister was still alive or not) who knew what lay ahead for Camelot. Who knew how much longer he would survive?

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/61859.html)


End file.
